Inhuman kindness

Jay had never seen such destruction and chaos as the earthquake he had just survived wrought. The young vampire was probably in shock from the horrors around him. As luck would have it he was also stuck. The building he had been in had collapsed completely during the earthquake just as the sun was rising. Jay now huddled under a collapsed wall that gave him full view of the street beyond. He had considered escaping into the shadows, but one glance found the realm of the shadows to be just as dangerous and chaotic as the real world. Jay opted to simply continue to hide under the collapsed wall and wait until sundown.

Though many people ran through the streets looking for loved ones, many more less noble people moved about, looting what they could, stealing from the dead. Jay's lip curled but he kept to his hiding place. Few people were looking under his wall anyway, so he kept his disgust to himself and merely watched while waiting for dark. Hours passed and eventually the sun hovered high in the sky. Jay had to squint to see anything.

There were a few aftershocks here and there, nothing quite as frightening or dangerous as the first earthquake. There were some scary noises that Jay couldn't identify, but he assumed they were animals either dying or escaping from humans somehow. Only one noise filled Jay with a sense of dread: the scream of a young woman.

Jay crawled as close as he dared to the deadly sunlight and looked up the street in horror as a young woman scrambled desperately away from three men with dark grins on their faces. It was clear what they had in mind; it was also clear that the woman could not get away. She tried to scramble up onto a fallen wall, but it crumbled and she fell ten feet to the ground. She curled in pain, but still tried to back away, to try to find somewhere to hide. The wall that she had tried to seek refuge on now became her prison. The woman had nowhere else to go.

Jay shook with rage as he watched the three men close of any avenue of escape and close in on the woman. She screamed for help, but could not escape. There was nowhere for her to go. Then, as Jay watched in horror, more men appeared, some armed with knives and clubs, all apparently interested in the same thing. Jay closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Unable to do anything, Jay cursed his vampiric status and tried desperately to block the coming sounds from his ears. What he heard shocked him and he couldn't help but look up.

Standing between the mob of men, two of whom had been knocked down, and the young woman was a man of average height who was rather on the thin side. He had shoulder length blond hair, a rarity here, and was dressed only in soft leathers. Jay's sharp eyes and nose quickly identified that this man was actually an elf. As Jay's eyes widened, the elf calmly dusted off his shirt and simply stood between the men and their prize. The woman cowered behind the elf, too shocked and frightened to realize that the newcomer was here to help her.

Shouting something in a language Jay did not know, one of the largest men charged at the slight elf. The elf stopped the man with a casually placed kick, then struck the man perhaps three times. The big man crumbled and tried to crawl away from the elf. After some exchanged words, the group of men sent forth the men armed with clubs to deal with interloper.

Jay cringed, but watched in amazement as the elf fought. At first he ducked, and dodged, never giving ground while still never letting the clubs hit him. After one of the men tried to move behind the elf, he snatched away that man's club, accepting a strike to his shoulder, and struck the man whose club he had stolen hard enough to knock the man out cold. Now similarly armed, the elf swung back and forth, almost delicately knocking the other men's weapons out of their hands.

Suddenly the elf twitched left and stuck out his club catching the thrown dagger that was aimed for him. As he pulled the knife out of the club the now three men fighting him stepped back nervously. The elf glanced at the knife, maintaining his casual expression, then threw it over his shoulder far into the rubble. The amorous group backed away again to talk.

Jay inspected the sun and found that it had hardly moved. The fight, which had seemed to take forever, had hardly taken minutes. Jay growled in frustration and looked at the elf who, still without changing expression, stood calmly facing the men in front of him. The elf glanced at Jay for a moment, blinked once, then looked away without other response. Jay frowned, but could think of nothing else to do but wait and hope for the best.

The men with the dark intent came to a consensus somewhat later, and each man armed with a knife advanced on the elf. Still armed with his club, the elf took two steps forward before stopping again. Jay guessed that he was giving himself more room to battle these better armed men. The men with the knives advanced slowly, while the men behind them spread out both to trap the elf as well as to collect rocks.

The men with the knives advanced just outside of the elf's reach and began to slash towards the elf. When the elf didn't respond, the moved in closer, trying to cut the elf. Now the he faded and moved avoiding the knives relatively easily. Jay marveled at the creatures speed just long enough to forget about the other men. When the men with knives suddenly backed off, a barrage of thrown rocks was launched at the elf, who mostly dodged the attacks while knocking a couple of the rocks aside with his club. Only one rock hit the elf in the arm, but the elf grimaced when he was struck. Still, he caught that rock before it hit the ground and tossed it aside as well.

The group shared a dark laugh as the men with the knives once again moved towards the elf. A few rocks flew, and though the elf avoided or deflected them with his club, he was hard pressed to avoid all the rocks and knife attacks and came away from that skirmish with a knife wound to the arm holding the club. When Jay saw the wound, he pounded the ground in frustration growling dangerously loudly.

When the men backed off to plan another attack, the elf looked at Jay a second time with an appraising expression. He glanced at the woman behind him and then back at Jay with a question in his eyes.

"Yes, I want to help her," Jay growled. The elf blinked at Jay, looked skyward for a moment, then returned his attention to the small mob of men with evil intent. Jay blinked in confusion then rolled his eyes, muttering something disparraging about elves.

The men with the knives approached again, and this time the barrage of rocks did not come until the elf was very involved in the battle with the armed men. More rocks hit their mark, one glancing off the elf's forehead, though he looked no worse the wear. Two more knife wounds had joined the first, however, further angering Jay. He scrambled forward an inch or two more as the sky darkened. The men backed away, knowing that the wounds would take their toll on this dangerous opponent.

Then it hit Jay: the sky was darkening? Jay stuck his head out of his hiding place to find thick, rolling, black clouds blotting out the sun. It was slightly painful even with this cloud cover for Jay to step out from cover, but he endured that pain.

When Jay attacked the group of men from behind, they didn't know he was coming. Initially Jay was so fast in knocking out his opponents and pulling them away, that the other men did not notice his arrival. When they did notice him, Jay did not hold back from his savage attacks. Jay knew that he could not reveal that he was a vampire, and had to hold back his true strength, but Jay fought like a berserker, relying on anger and savagery to frighten his opponents.

Though the mob quickly turned it's focus to Jay, the young vampire had already broken legs, arms, and jaws as he tore through the crowd of men as quickly as he dared. The instant the men were distracted, the elf exploded into action attacking the men with a grim resolve, though he never tarried far from the young woman's side. Jay was struck several times, even hit by clubs, but never did he slow his attack. He fought his way to the elf, then stood shoulder to shoulder with the elf facing the much smaller group of men.

In the face of two deadly opponents, the mob quickly dispersed. Most men simply fled, though a few stayed to help the injured escape. In five minutes time, the only ones who remained were Jay, the elf, and the woman. Jay sat down heavily, breathing a sigh of relief. The elf calmly pulled bandages out of a pouch and began to calmly bind his wounds.

Jay looked up at the elf as he worked, but said nothing. He glanced at the woman, who was still huddled in fear, then back at the elf. The elf almost smiled at Jay before looking meaningfully up at the sky. The black clouds were beginning to thin out. Jay gave the elf a disparraging look before returning to his previous hiding place.

As the sun broke through the clouds, the elf walked over to the young woman and crouched beside her. When she did not reply, the elf gently touched her arm for a moment. After a long pause, the woman dared to peek over her crossed arms. The elf cocked his head to the side slightly, but did nothing else and said nothing. It took almost a minute, but eventually the woman slowly pulled her arms down and seemed to realize that she was safe. She brushed away her tears and looked away from the elf, embarrassed.

The elf stood, drawing the woman's eyes. He smiled and offered her his hand. The woman tentatively took his hand and, with his help, rose to her feet. Other than smile, the elf did nothing. Eventually the woman smiled back, and slowly led her protector away.

Jay smiled as they left, but had a momentary thought, wondering if it would always be like this, the vampire saving the day and the other guy getting the girl. Jay laughed and dismissed that despressing thought. Of course he'd get the girl someday!